Book Selections

Adult/High School

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

Jamie Ford

Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet

depicts the friendship between Henry Lee and Keiko Okabe, a Chinese American boy and a Japanese American girl—both American citizens—whose ethnic backgrounds impact their destinies in drastically different ways during World War II. When the U.S. government orders all persons of Japanese ancestry to evacuate their homes and submit to voluntary internment, Keiko and her family are forced to leave Seattle and live in an internment camp in rural Idaho. In Keiko’s absence, Henry must come to terms with what it means to be Chinese, an obedient son, a trustworthy friend, and a loyal American.

Middle School

Dust of Eden

Mariko Nagai

Dust of Eden

is a "novel in verse". Mina Tagawa is a girl just like any other American middle school girl until December 1941 when Pearl Harbor is attacked. Suddenly her classmates are calling her names, her father is arrested by the FBI, and newspaper headlines in Seattle warn people not to trust Japanese Americans. Mina's family is sent to an internment camp hundreds of miles away from their home. For the next three years they live under armed guard - Americans treated as enemies.

Elementary

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow

Amy Lee - Tai

A Place Where Sunflowers Grow

Under the harsh summer sun, Mari' s art class has begun. But it's hard to think of anything to draw in a place where nothing beautiful grows - especially a place like Topaz, the internment camp where Mari's family and thousands of other Japanese Americans have been sent to live during WWII. Somehow, glimmers of hope begin to surface - in the eyes of a kindly art teacher, in the tender words of Mari's parents, and in the smile of a new friend.